Ernestine had a good deal of contempt for their patrons. But
the glowing proof of their business success lay in the cash drawer,
which literally overflowed with money, and they had accounts with half
the families in Chicago who pretended to be "in society."
Business men began to compliment Milly upon her shrewdness and predicted
a marvellous growth for the business. One broker seriously suggested
incorporating the Cake Shop, as certain candy manufacturers had
incorporated, and offered to boom the stock on the local exchange, Milly
talked of opening a summer branch in Newport or Bar Harbor, she could
not decide which. But she was a little timid about the east. She felt
that she had been right in starting in Chicago. The west was less
accustomed to Paris and had a lustier appetite for cake than New York,
and the charm of their Gallic interior was more of a novelty beside Lake
Michigan than it would be on Fifth Avenue. A branch in St. Louis or
Omaha might pay: her mind was nimble with schemes.... She was also going
out more or less all the time, to dinners and theatre parties, which
with her long day's work took every ounce of her strength and more.
Virginia had to get along these days the best she could. But was her
mother not building up a fortune for her future?
* * * * *
Of course they had their troubles from the very start.
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